How to Build an Email List: 13 Winning Tactics with Dos & Don’ts

Building an email list is like nurturing a garden – you need several things to make everything work. Just as plants need healthy seeds, fertile soil, and ample sunlight to thrive, your list-building strategy requires the right mix of tactics, content, and approach to grow. 

Growing the list is about patience meeting strategy to create a fertile ground for long-term relationships. Today, we’ll share thirteen proven strategies to grow your email list and the dos and don’ts for effective email list building.

Benefits of Building an Email List

Point a finger at a random person, and high chances are they have an email account (if not two). Despite all the social media rush, email marketing keeps the crown of being the easiest way to reach your customers. From that comes considerable advantages of building an email list:

• It’s cost-effective. Email marketing is an affordable tactic in comparison to other marketing strategies. You just need a good email marketing tool to get started;
• It reaches already interested people. Assuming that you didn’t buy the email list (a terrible idea) but built it, rest assured that the owners of those email addresses are interested in what you have to say;
• It builds loyalty. You can use your email list for drip marketing tactics to nurture the prospects until they become repeat customers by targeting customer segments with customized campaigns;
• It’s an owned channel. Your email list does not abide by any restrictions created by social media algorithms or keyword bidding, meaning that you can target who you want, when you want, and with the content you want.

With Sender, you can do it all. Once you build your email list with our high-converting popups, you can execute and automate effective email campaigns for an enormous increase in conversions. That and much more — absolutely Free!

How to Build an Email List: 13 Easy-to-Implement Tactics

If you’ve been googling – ‘How do I create an email list?’ and want to start a newsletter for marketing, we’ve got some tips and tactics to help you get started for free. Use these tips and tactics to start building your email list from scratch and grow your subscribers fast. 

Add a Signup Form on the Homepage

An email sign up form helps collect email addresses from website visitors. It “pops up” on the homepage, inviting them to sign up in exchange for an incentive: a discount, special offer, newsletter subscription, etc. Here’s an example of a website popup:

As much as everyone loves to hate popups, they are among the most effective ways to build your email list. In fact, on average, website pop ups convert 3.8% of visitors.

Top this number and quickly build your email list by including the following in your popup:

• A heading and subheading that promises and details an offer that’s hard to refuse.
• A call-to-action (CTA) button that urges to act. 
• An email input field where visitors can submit their addresses.
• Visual branding to put your name next to the offer.

Also read: 10 Effective Newsletter Signup Examples & Popup Form

Use Popup Forms like Exit Intent and Spin-to-Win

Every website visitor is unique, and depending on your audience, you can use different variations of pop up forms, such as exit intent or spin to win, to entice them to sign up for your regular emails.

A spin-to-win popup works simply. After users enter their contact details, they can spin the wheel for a chance to win a prize. This adds “gamification” to your website, making signing up for an email list fun.

Exit-intent popups appear when a visitor wants to leave your website. When they move their mouse onto another tab or intend to exit the website, they’re shown exit pop ups with a valuable offer, such as a coupon code, or exclusive product demo that requires them to fill an email signup form.

Here are some best practices to make the most of your popup form:

• The popup forms should appear at the right time — 15-30 seconds after website entry, when a user is about to leave, or based on the user’s behavior;
• Your forms should match your brand style;
• Ensure your popup forms are responsive and can fit any device.

Also read: 20 Newsletter Popup Design Examples That Inspire

To make it truly effective, you must make the CTA (call-to-action) pop. Free your imagination when designing the button and crafting the copy to catch the visitor’s eye.

But don’t forget that it should stay in line with your branding. While a bright red button with “Buy now!!!” is visible, it will steer away shocked readers.

Create a Dedicated Sign-Up Landing Page

According to HubSpot research, increasing the number of landing pages from 10 to 15 results in a 55% increase in leads.

It makes sense since personalized landing pages let you reach a broader audience. Everyone who visits your website needs something different, so the more landing pages you create to address each person’s specific needs, the more sign-ups you’ll receive.

To create effective personalized landing pages, you should:

• Understand where your website visitors are in the customer journey;
• Target users based on their behavior, demographics, and interests;
• Determine the specific type of content you want to deliver to each target audience.

Encourage Signups Through your Email Signature

Every time you send an email, the recipient sees your signature. So, why not add a small, inviting signup link with your name and contact info? 

Use it as your personal billboard. Add something quirky, like ‘You’re missing out on all the fun!’ or simple, like ‘Join My Newsletter.’ You can also use a benefit-driven CTA like the one below to invite people to sign up for your email list via email signature. 

Why add a sign-up link to your signature? 

• Every email you send is a potential signup. So, you’re opening up gates to a relevant audience without being pushy; 
• Adding the signup link to your email signature is easy and a low-hanging opportunity; 
• Sign-ups through email signature are likely interested in your business, making them high-quality leads.

Entice Visitors with Valuable Content

Posting relevant and valuable content on your blogs and social media is a great idea to grow your email list. 73% of brands post valuable content on social media platforms to drive traffic and engagement. 

Use organic channels to attract visitors and prospects and compel them to leave their emails. Offer something your visitors can’t resist, like a free guide or a discount, in exchange for their email. 

It’s like giving a free sample at a store; if they like it, they’ll want more. For instance, “Sign up and get a 10% off coupon” on your web pages. Or a free checklist in return for their email. Here’s an example of a similar popup by Hello Fresh: 

The tempting offer is useful to visitors looking to try out the products. You can also try a similar approach with informational blog posts or embedding inline forms in your page’s content. 

Why You Should Do It? 

• Helpful content and relevant offers make subscribers feel they’re getting something beneficial immediately; 
• People who sign up are genuinely interested in your content, leading to a more engaged list; 
• Helps in collecting information about potential customers, which you can use in follow-up and nurturing campaigns. 

Create Compelling Lead Magnets

A lead magnet (or gated content) is a valuable incentive (ebooks, webinars, templates, you name it) or offer marketers provide to website visitors in exchange for their email addresses. Lead magnets are effective marketing assets due to their ability to generate leads.

Your lead magnet should have life-changing value for the prospect — ideally, something they can use immediately, quickly, and benefit from instantly.

An excellent lead magnet should be:

• Relevant to your target audience and provide them value;
• Shareable so you can acquire more leads;
• Trustworthy by backing it up with research and data whenever possible.

Add a Signup Button on Your Social Media Accounts

Most users follow businesses on social media to stay updated on new products. So, add an option on your Instagram, Facebook, and other social media channels for your customers to sign up for your regular email updates. 

Here are some tips you can follow:

• Add sign-up buttons on your social accounts to add your fans to your email list;
• Add an email sign-up app to your social accounts to contact those interested in your offers. When your followers click on the app, they’ll be directed to an opt-in form to enter their email addresses.

Drive Email Sign-Ups With Ad Campaigns

Building an email list with online ads is a good idea when you have the budget. You can use social media, PPC ads, or any other advertising channel you’re looking at. 

All you need is a compelling ad copy, creative, and a functional landing page for it. 

Targeted landing pages boost email list signups as they’re typically designed with a singular objective in mind. When aiming for successful email marketing campaigns, create a landing page that: 

• Proposes a direct offer for a particular target audience; 
• Clears out the value proposition and answers apprehensions; 
• Has a short sign-up form to capture email addresses. 

Here’s an example by a coach who uses his Facebook page and paid ads to promote his newsletter and grow his email list: 

You can also create similar ads on Facebook, YouTube or wherever your ideal audience hangs out. Target the right audience using Facebook Ads Manager and Google Ads and give them a tailored offer they can’t resist. This will help you reach a new audience and scale your email list faster. 

Include the Signup Option Upon Account Registration

Another almost effortless way to earn precious customers’ email addresses is to ask for them when they are ready to give them to you – at the account registration step. Many marketers consider site registration an undefiable way to ensure subscribers’ quantity and quality. Add a marketing email sign-up checkbox in the account registration form for new customers on your ecommerce website

Follow these practices to ensure maximum effectiveness:

• Consider your target audience and what offer would motivate them to submit their email address. 
• Be clear about the reason why your customers should sign up.
• Put the focus on the CTA by using enticing language and captivating design.

Utilize Social Media Engagement

If you’re active on social media, you should ask your social media followers to join your email list. It’s like turning casual social media conversations into more meaningful, private chats. 

Here’s an idea – post your latest newsletter content teaser and add, “DM us for the full story and insider access.”. Here’s an example:

It’s a good practice to bring your followers to your email lists as you’re safe from losing your connection if something happens to your social media account. 

Why You Should Do It? 

• Your followers already like your content, so it makes sense to direct and personal;
• Occasional sneak peeks spark curiosity and induce FOMO towards your brand; 
• Building relationships across platforms reduces overdependence on a particular channel. 

Offer Free Trial or Discounts

A free trial can benefit both your business and potential customers. You can show what your product can do, and the customers can try it without risk before buying.

Here’s an example from Zapier:

To increase your email signups using free trials:

• Design and launch email marketing campaigns that excite prospects and make them want to sign up;
• Target your ideal users with content designed to make them take action; 
• Keep sign-up forms short and only ask for essential information (usually email and name).

Leverage Email List Growth Tools

An email list growth tool is software that helps you capture leads from your website pages. This can be in the form of a behavioral popup, spin-to-win form, or any other method that persuades the user to leave their information after they’ve discovered and browsed your content/offer. 

Using such a tool helps you manage the entire process efficiently. You can attract, collect, and manage existing subscribers from a single dashboard. It’s like using water, seeds, and fertilizers together to grow a vibrant garden.

Sender helps you automate the process of building, managing, and nurturing an email list. 

You can use such a tool to integrate a list-building tactic, like a popup form directly on a website. Then, automate welcome emails and follow-ups to convert those subscribers into paying customers. 

Why You Should Do It? 

• List-building tools help you streamline the process of capturing, welcoming, and nurturing inbound leads through automation; 
• You can see your list growing on a single dashboard using analytics and reports, which can help you identify winning tactics and optimize your existing efforts; 
• Such tools also help you to personalize your email marketing campaign by segmenting your email list based on behavior and/or online activity. This helps you boost relevance and increase engagement. 

Use a Live Chat or Chatbot

Live chat and chatbots can take even more work out of your hands – use them to capture email addresses by engaging website visitors in real-time conversations. 

How could you include live chat or chatbot to promote your lead generation offer? 

The most natural way is to initiate proactive conversation or use chatbots to offer future updates, newsletters, or exclusive content in exchange for their email addresses.

Another approach is to use a chatbot for collecting email addresses. Chatbots can also guide users to a dedicated landing page for signing up. 

Both ways enhance user experience, foster ongoing communication, and engage even more potential customers.

Create a Blog Post that Readers Can Subscribe To

A value-packed blog post is like a perfect cup of coffee that leaves interested readers craving for more. 

Post blogs that make readers think, “I need more of this!”. Such a captivating blog post acts like a magnet. Add an invite to subscribe to more such blogs to transform a one-time visitor into a subscriber. 

You can add different types of sign-up forms – popups, floating bars, scroll box, or inline signup forms to entice readers to leave their contact details (and be added to your email list). Here’s an example: 

Readers who sign up can be nurtured through an automated newsletter that sends them weekly digest or updates on the latest blogs on your website. Or you can nurture them through automated email sequences to introduce them to your products or services. 

Why You Should Do It? 

• Readers who find value in your content are more likely to sign up, ensuring a quality subscriber base; 
• Sharing knowledge and insights establishes you as an authority, making readers more inclined to trust and subscribe. 

​Guest Blogging

Just like you post blogs on your website, you can contribute to other websites. This is called guest blogging. 

Think of guest blogging like being a guest DJ at a popular club. You play your unique set, and the crowd loves it. At the night’s end, you say, “If you like my music, follow me on Spotify for more amazing tracks.” 

This is how it works – you showcase your best content on someone else’s platform, then invite the audience back to your space for more.

A great example of a guest post will be an actionable blog around your product use cases in an online industry magazine. The guest blog ends with an engaging, well-designed call to action button: “Did this story resonate with you? Dive deeper into our world by subscribing to our newsletter!”

Every platform you’ll pitch to has guidelines on how you plug your email list or any other link. Remember to abide by their rules when you contribute. 

Why You Should Do It? 

• Introduces you to a broader audience; 
• Sharing your expertise on well-known platforms builds your reputation; 
• Inviting readers to subscribe after seeing value turns immediate interest into a lasting connection.

Pro Tips for Email Marketing List: Dos and Don’ts

Do’s:

Clean Your List Regularly

Email marketing lists naturally degrade by more than 22% yearly, meaning even genuine subscribers will be lost. Additionally, there will always be inactive subscribers who refuse to open and engage with your email. To prevent it from hurting your marketing efforts, you should always keep your email list up to date. 

Here are the best ways to do it:

• Remove inactive subscribers. Occasionally, check addresses that don’t open or engage with your emails and delete them. Trust us; they were never helping your business anyway – email engagement is an essential metric.
• Use confirmation emails. Before even considering sending that first welcome sequence, ensure that the email verification has taken place so you only send emails to valid and correct email addresses.

Respect Subscriber Preferences

You must honor your subscriber’s choices when building an email list. This involves understanding what content they want to receive and how often. Ideally, it would help if you gave them the power to modify their preferences or unsubscribe anytime.

Here’s how to do it: 

1. Set up a simple follow-up automation after someone signs up, asking them about their preferences. Also, give them a link to the preferences center; 
2. Then, use the information to set up custom segments in your email marketing software.

This approach adheres to email marketing best practices and builds trust and rapport with your audience.

Use Personalization

Imagine your best friend addressing you as “this person” when introducing you to someone instead of using your name. It’ll feel offensive, right? The same is the case with your emails. 

Personalizing your email based on a particular attribute or user behavior makes them feel special and increases their chances of engaging with your content. 

When building and growing an email list, you must ensure you know about them and use it to personalize their experience. 

Here’s how to boost your personalization efforts:

• Collect information like their name, interests, or past purchases. Use this info to tailor your emails, making each message feel like it’s written just for them; 
• Group your email subscribers based on their preferences, behavior, or demographics. This lets you send more relevant emails to each group, like sharing pet care tips with dog owners only; 
• Use the subscriber’s name in the subject lines/email content. Include content that matches their interests, like picking out a personalized gift you know they’ll love. 

Don’ts

Purchase Email Lists

Buying email lists might seem quick to expand your audience, but it’s a bad idea. People on purchased lists haven’t agreed to receive emails from you. Sending unsolicited messages can irritate recipients and lead to high spam complaints. 

• Leads to low engagement rates;
• Damages your reputation;
• Invades user privacy, and; 
• Can you get into legal trouble after laws like GDPR & CAN-SPAM? 

Since these recipients don’t know you, they’re less likely to open, click, or buy from your emails. Plus, purchased lists can harm your sender’s reputation and deliverability. 

Overwhelm with Frequency

Flooding your subscribers’ inboxes with too many emails is like a friend who calls you five times a day – it quickly becomes annoying, no matter how much you like them. 

Here’s why overwhelming your audience with emails is a flawed strategy:

• Sending too many emails can tire your subscribers, leading to higher unsubscribe rates; 
• When people receive too many emails, they start ignoring them, leading to lower open and click-through rates; 
• Bombarding emails can make your business seem desperate or inconsiderate, which differs from the image you want to project.

It’s good to keep a consistent frequency or ask your subscribers how often they want to receive the emails, which they can change in the preferences center, as mentioned above. 

Also, telling them how often you’ll email them in your welcome email is good practice. This sets the right expectations right from the start.

Send Irrelevant Content

Sending content that doesn’t align with your subscribers’ interests or needs is like giving a vegetarian a chicken pizza – it just doesn’t make sense.

Irrelevant emails can frustrate your audience. If subscribers consistently receive content that doesn’t match their preferences, they’ll lose interest in your brand and unsubscribe. 

Here’s what it means: 

• You’ll be seen as a spammy brand; 
• Your sender’s reputation will go down; 
• You’ll waste time and money on every email campaign. 

So, it’s better to research, listen, and respect their preferences so you’re always remembered for the right reasons. 

Maintaining List Hygiene and Compliance

If you’re serious about email marketing, you must ensure your email list stays up-to-date. Think of this as an insurance policy that ensures the best results and keeps you safe from unnecessary hassles. 

After GDPR, CCNA, and other anti-spam and privacy protection laws, keeping your list clean is no longer a ‘good-to-follow’ tactic. You’re legally bound to comply with regulations to protect your subscriber information and use email marketing tools. 

Here’s what you should do: 

1. Clean Your List. Remove inactive subscribers who haven’t engaged with your emails for a set period, like six months or a year. This helps improve your open and click-through rates and ensures your content reaches those genuinely interested; 
2. Remove Invalid Contacts. Correct or remove invalid email addresses to reduce bounce rates and protect your sender’s reputation; 
3. Use Double Opt-Ins. Use a double opt-in process where subscribers must confirm their email address after signing up. It serves as proof of clear consent, which is crucial for compliance with regulations like GDPR.
4. Make Unsubscribing Easy. Ensure every email includes an easy-to-find and simple-to-use unsubscribe link. Clear and straightforward unsubscribe processes respect user preferences and comply with anti-spam laws.
5. Stay Updated about Regulations. Familiarize yourself with email marketing regulations relevant to your audience’s location. You should comply with obtaining proper consent, providing clear sender information, and respecting user data privacy. 
6. Segment Your List. Segment your list based on subscriber behavior, preferences, and demographics to send more targeted and relevant content. This not only improves engagement but also reduces the likelihood of subscribers losing interest and marking your emails as spam.

What Makes a Great Email List?

Ever wonder why some email lists seem like gold mines while others are just digital dust collectors? Here are some common traits of email lists that are great for email campaigns: 

• Engaged Users. The best lists are like exclusive clubs – full of active members who can’t wait to see what’s next. You want people who open, read, and click through your emails because they find them useful or exciting; 
• Know your Subscriber’s Interest. Group your subscribers so they get emails tailored to their tastes – more opens, more clicks, happier subscribers; 
• Up-to-Date. Keep your list as clean as your favorite shirt. Remove those who never open emails or have invalid addresses. It’s about reaching real people, not just numbers; 
• Complying with Laws. Your list-building tactics should follow the rules – like CAN-SPAM and GDPR. It’s not just good manners; it’s good business. Make sure people have agreed to be on your list and let them easily say goodbye if they want; 
• Personal Touch. Treat your subscribers like friends, not faceless emails. Use their names, understand their interests, and send them content they care about.

Email List Building FAQ

How do you build an email list from scratch?

To build an email list from scratch, consider using email service providers that:

• Help you capture an email address list using attractive and highly customizable embedded and dynamic popup forms;
• Allow you to apply powerful segmentation based on subscribers’ behavior;
• Permit you to set up powerful automation sequences that nurture and convert prospects into paying customers.

How do I make an email list for free?

To make an email list for free, use an email marketing software like Sender that allows you to focus on your business instead of worrying about how-tos and mechanisms at the tactical level.

The free plan is very generous as it gets — 2,500 subscribers, to whom you can send 15,000 emails monthly at zero cost.

Why you should not buy an email list? 

Email lists work on trust. If your new subscribers are unaware of your business or product, or worst-case scenario, have not even signed up themselves, they will not help your business grow.

On the contrary, they may unsubscribe or report your approach as spam, affecting your inbox deliverability to other genuine subscribers.

You may also be violating critical regulations relating to email communication, such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM Act, and more. These could eventually result in hefty penalties to your business that can hurt your bottom line.

Key Takeaways

When planning for building and growing your email list, you must stay on the ‘right side’ of the fence from the beginning. To ensure you’re going in the right direction, remember the following: